Sports ramblings…with a Yankees bias!

I must be in the front row!…

Slip, slidin’ our way to first place…

Here I was getting concerned about the uneven start to the 2012 season and the Yankees have quietly showed up at the threshold of first place in the AL East. A few weeks back, there was just a game I believe that separated the Yankees from the Red Sox. Ironic since Boston had gotten off to such a horrid start. But the Yankees started to win, and they now share first place with the Tampa Bay Rays after defeating the New York Mets tonight. The Mets game, by the way, shows that Hiroki Kuroda misses the National League. He was stellar tonight in the 9-1 victory.

Speaking of pitching, I have continued to be very pleased with the return of Andy Pettitte. He had a not-so-great start followed by perhaps his best start in years. Andy has been a great Yankee. Yes, there is the association with steroids but Andy has taken far more personal accountability than most of the ‘roid users that we have seen. When I think of the great Yankees, the guys that should be forever immortalized as part of the great Yankees franchise, Andy is in the same room. When Whitey Ford passes, Andy will be the greatest living lefthander in franchise history. I can still remember when he first came up from the minor leagues. I certainly never thought that he’d have such an illustrious career. There’s those Houston years, but the Yankees could have and should have done more to keep Andy in the fold. Conversely, maybe Andy needed a few years away to realize how much he loved the Yankees. He may be a Texan by birth and by heart, but he’s a Yankee forevermore.

Glad to see that Mark Teixeira is hitting again, but then again, it’s June so he is supposed to be…

I am anxious to see how much better the Yankees can be when Brett Gardner gets back on the field. Nothing against Andruw Jones, Raul Ibanez, or the rest of the fill-in’s, but the Yankees lineup has been missing Gardner’s speed…

Russell Martin deserves a contract extension. Get ‘er done!

I love David Robertson but the only place for him to go is the 8th inning. Rafael Soriano has earned the closer’s role in his absence and the team is stronger with Robertson-Soriano than it is with Soriano-Robertson…

I like the draft pick of pitcher Ty Hensley, and I appreciate his excitement about being a member of baseball’s most storied franchise…

Robinson Cano has been and still is the team’s MVP…

But Curtis Granderson gets honorable mention…

I enjoy having Joe Girardi as manager, but I am very impressed by the growth and maturity Don Mattingly has exhibited as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. I will always be a Donnie Baseball fan and it is sad that he’s not a part of the Yankees organization currently. Maybe one day he can find his way home…

It’s still a long season, but I like where the Yankees are at. I fully expect an upcoming hard run by the Boston Red Sox and there’s no way that the Tampa Bay Rays are going to go away. But it should be a fun ride to the end of the season…regardless of the outcome. Go Yankees!

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